The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury is a collection of short stories set from 1999-2026. These stories concern humanity's journey to, and subsequent colinization of the planet Mars. The reason for this is Earth's dystopian condition.
At the time of the first expedition, Mars is alive, with the martian people living in big crystal houses, some out in the country, or some in big cities. There are rivers of wine from vineyards, water everwhere, even in the houses flowing from the walls and on the floor. It seems like clear, crystaline structure is part of martian asthetics. Even when they sleep at night, their beds are made of mist. Despite all of this, it's evident that Mars is not as alive as it once was, maybe even dying. The seas are long dried up, the population isn't that large, and plant life is lacking.
Man's landing on Mars doesn't help. After inadvertently wiping out the Martian race with Chicken Pox, they claim the planet as their own, quickly building wood and steel cities all over it. Much like when Great Britain first colonized North America, the humans don't care for the native civilization of Mars, disregarding, and in some cases destroying the formerly great martian structures and cities.
In their quest for making Mars fit their idea of life, many changes are made to the planet. The formerly desolate martian wilderness in poplated by both cities and a great deal of trees, the latter of which grow abnormally fast due to an unknown chemical property in the soil. A man decides to replicate the house of Usher using machines to keep the sky dark, and robots in the form of monsters to populate the house. He does this because of the mass censorship(destruction) of all books deemed fanciful or unrealistic on Earth.
Several years after the initianl colinization, when all of Mars is populated by humans, a long anticipated nuclear war starts on Earth. Almost everyone on Mars decides to leave for Earth to help in the war and/or because of worry for their loved ones. This effects Mars drastically, leaving the planet populated by many cities, but at the same time it seems dead, much the same as when humans first arrived. A few are left, because they decided to stay, or because they were left behind.
One short story depicts a house on Earth, left abandoned some time ago, but due to computers, has managed to upkeep itself. It describes the house's daily routine, and all of things it still does for the former occupants, even when they aren't there. The house sets an alarm clock for the early morning, makes breakfast, packs school lunches, announces it's time for school, and cleans the result of the meal, all in the morning. During the afternoon, when everyone would be out, it cleans everything, using tiny robotic mice. When the family would normally arrive home, the house sets up entertainment. Things such as card tables, snacks, poetry readings, and the holographic walls of a baby's room complete with a virtual zoo, all set up automatically. When night falls, a tree falls as well, into the house. This causes a fire that rages unapposed, because the house has finally run out of water. The purpose of this story is to show that when humanitiy is gone, nature will take back its place.
In the end, a family manages to procure a rocket, and travel to Mars to begin a new life, away from the conflict on Earth. They pick an abandoned city, and choose to live their lives there. They decide to perhaps start the human race anew, with the help of another family that, supposedly, will be arriving shortly after them.
At the time of the first expedition, Mars is alive, with the martian people living in big crystal houses, some out in the country, or some in big cities. There are rivers of wine from vineyards, water everwhere, even in the houses flowing from the walls and on the floor. It seems like clear, crystaline structure is part of martian asthetics. Even when they sleep at night, their beds are made of mist. Despite all of this, it's evident that Mars is not as alive as it once was, maybe even dying. The seas are long dried up, the population isn't that large, and plant life is lacking.
Man's landing on Mars doesn't help. After inadvertently wiping out the Martian race with Chicken Pox, they claim the planet as their own, quickly building wood and steel cities all over it. Much like when Great Britain first colonized North America, the humans don't care for the native civilization of Mars, disregarding, and in some cases destroying the formerly great martian structures and cities.
In their quest for making Mars fit their idea of life, many changes are made to the planet. The formerly desolate martian wilderness in poplated by both cities and a great deal of trees, the latter of which grow abnormally fast due to an unknown chemical property in the soil. A man decides to replicate the house of Usher using machines to keep the sky dark, and robots in the form of monsters to populate the house. He does this because of the mass censorship(destruction) of all books deemed fanciful or unrealistic on Earth.
Several years after the initianl colinization, when all of Mars is populated by humans, a long anticipated nuclear war starts on Earth. Almost everyone on Mars decides to leave for Earth to help in the war and/or because of worry for their loved ones. This effects Mars drastically, leaving the planet populated by many cities, but at the same time it seems dead, much the same as when humans first arrived. A few are left, because they decided to stay, or because they were left behind.
One short story depicts a house on Earth, left abandoned some time ago, but due to computers, has managed to upkeep itself. It describes the house's daily routine, and all of things it still does for the former occupants, even when they aren't there. The house sets an alarm clock for the early morning, makes breakfast, packs school lunches, announces it's time for school, and cleans the result of the meal, all in the morning. During the afternoon, when everyone would be out, it cleans everything, using tiny robotic mice. When the family would normally arrive home, the house sets up entertainment. Things such as card tables, snacks, poetry readings, and the holographic walls of a baby's room complete with a virtual zoo, all set up automatically. When night falls, a tree falls as well, into the house. This causes a fire that rages unapposed, because the house has finally run out of water. The purpose of this story is to show that when humanitiy is gone, nature will take back its place.
In the end, a family manages to procure a rocket, and travel to Mars to begin a new life, away from the conflict on Earth. They pick an abandoned city, and choose to live their lives there. They decide to perhaps start the human race anew, with the help of another family that, supposedly, will be arriving shortly after them.